An Enlightening Read: A new earth by Eckhart Tolle

I am so thankful to my beloved friend RC for suggesting I read this book in one of her long conversations with me. She did not know what a life line this book would turn out to be for me. Sometimes a little speck of dust could put an entire engine out of synch and that is what happened to me a few weeks back. It was an emotional crisis I did not see coming and I was completely devastated. I could not share this situation with anyone and had to put on a happy face to everyone around me. It was only the words in this book which helped me to be sane and to get a new perspective of myself and my mind. By no means is it easy reading and one needs to read it twice or thrice to grasp what is being said but I would recommend it to anyone to get a whole new grasp of humanity and humanness. From this book I heard the quote by Krishnamurthi to everlasting peace which was the simple words “I don’t mind what happens”. Believe it or not the words in this book have helped even to be in control of my eating habits what is in it has had such a transforming effect on me. If you would like a pdf copy of this publication its available with me just drop me a mail. I thought of leaving you with a sequence from the book which I found fascinating.
"The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a town in Japan. He was held in high
regard and many people came to him for spiritual teaching. Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his next door neighbor became pregnant. When being questioned by her angry and scolding parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen Master. In great anger the parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father. All he replied was, “Is that so?”
News of the scandal spread throughout the town and beyond. The
Master lost his reputation. This did not trouble him. Nobody came to see him anymore. He remained unmoved. When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin. “You are the father, so you look after him.” The Master took loving care of the child. A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop. In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness. “We are really sorry. We have come to take the baby back. Our daughter confessed that you are not the father.” “Is that so?” is all he would may as he handed the baby over to them.
The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, in exactly the same way: “Is that so?” He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody's victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness."

The princess and the alarm clock.

The alarm clock screams in pain as it smashes its head against the glass pane of its surface. He sees the princess sleeping he wants to reach out and wrap his arms around her. To feel her warmth the softness of her skin. To smell her hair. But every time he reaches out the damned glass obstructs his way. All he can do is look at the princess lovingly. As she sleeps... her hair fanned around her like a halo. Like an angel he says to himself and wonders why he has been given a heart. Machines are not supposed to have feelings.He remembers the story about the tin man who wanted a heart and wondered if some higher power out there thought it was him by mistake. Cursing him with the gift of a heart making him feel and want and reach for what he could not have.
He is glad he can be near the princess to wake her up in the morning to watch as she falls asleep. The clock knows the princess finds the presence of the constant ticking in her life reassuring. He wallows in joy at that fact like a fish feeling happy and joyful because he can feel the rays of the sun shining on his body through the water oblivious to the fact that the only reason this is so is because the water is rapidly shrinking.

Of justice, retribution and the wave…

Well the book club met once more and had another enjoyable session which lasted for over five hours and no one realized the time pass. Actually calling it a book club is a misnomer because we were discussing a film from the 80s. A short movie called the wave about a teacher who carried out a unique experiment when his students asked him how the people of Germany stood without doing anything while the Nazis who were just 10% of the population committed the atrocities which shocked the world. He created a similar situation in the class room and the results were mind boggling because all the students began to behave like the very people they were ridiculing.

But this led to an interesting discussion and one of the points which surfaced was that did the Nazis (Germans) get just retribution from the Jews for all what they have done. According to conventional an eye for eye wisdom no they have not. But one of the participants brought out a completely new dimension. He said that the Germans were being punished in an indirect manner to this very day via Hollywood. As you know most of the big movie production houses in Hollywood are of Jewish origin and his point was every year there is always a couple of holocaust movies which equals Germans to Nazis. After reflecting on this for a while I realized that it’s absolutely true.Don't you agree?

The best bookmark I have ever found!!!

Some say necessity is the mother of innovation. And most of the time that is correct but I just discovered that being lazy too could also help you to innovate. My wife and I were reading in bed and I asked her if she could give me something to use as a bookmark. Since she was feeling too lazy to get up or reach for some paper she just took off a hair clip which was on her head and put it into my book. Now of course she did this for a laugh but hell I suddenly realized I had just discovered the perfect bookmark. I read a lot of books and hate to dog ear pages. And have been frustrated about the choice of book marks available till now. The conventional card board ones fall out and the clip on types are kind of chubby so they obscure the reading surface. But the hair clip was perfect. It easily slipped in and was thin enough not to muck up your reading experience. And it is so cheap as well. Plus it has alternate uses. Who said being lazy was bad?

Sadly Happy

I have been preparing for this day for a long time

when we might have to say good bye…

Thought it would be the summer…

but summer passed

sadly before winter my fear comes to pass…

I do understand

that you would want something more tangible

And I am happy for you

But Sad….. for me.

Selfish and selfless - a true story

They were two sisters. Selfless was older. She had always been looking after selfish since they were kids, while their mom went bar hopping every night trying to drown her disillusionment of a broken marriage. Four decades after nothing has changed. Selfless still looks after her sister’s kids whilst she imitates her mother. Selfish steals her money steals stuff from her home scolds her like a criminal but selfless carries on patiently like a parent ignoring the tantrums of a badly brought up child.

One day Selfish had an medical emergency her lungs collapsed for some unknown reason. Fortunately selfless was close by. She carried her sister who was much larger and heavier than she was to her house which was 5 minutes away. She had a cylinder of oxygen for emergencies which she used on her sister and along brought her back to life by administering CPR. Yet, by the time selfish was taken to hospital and put on a ventilator she had been pronounced clinically dead twice. Selfless was tired and grief stricken. Her body was sore as her muscles had got strained by carrying her much heavier sister single handedly. She still does not know how she got the strength to do that. Yet she had to look after the off spring of selfish as well as go to hospital and check on her sister.

By the next day evening selfish came out of her coma and was taken off the ventilator. The first thing she did was to ask for a phone so she could communicate with all her boyfriends who had not noticed that she was missing. And of course she scolded her sister for being in pain whilst she was in hospital because there was so much to be done on her behalf now that she was indisposed. Selfless did not utter a word that the only reason she was in pain was because she had to carry selfish. Instead she smiled with Joy her sister was alive. Her life had purpose and meaning once more.

Racism at Liberty Plaza

"I rushed into Liberty Plaza to grab a quick bite… when I noticed some individuals smoking in the mini food court area..... I decided to light up as well but was flatly told by the security guard and the cashier of the food joint that "the management states that ONLY foreigners are permitted to smoke on the ground floor"......

This was the post I saw on facebook which left me fuming.

I cannot believe that the management of LP a place where I go to quite often would stoop so low. I wonder if anyone knows anyone else who has a similar experience. I just wish there was something I could do. Someone I could protest to? What is worse is that this is a semi government institution.

Of course for all we know it could be the LP management trying to protect locals from lung cancer (who gives a shit about foreigners) but I sincerely doubt it.